


Operation: Annoy Fury

by Rjslpets



Series: An Avenging Omega [3]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Multi, Pack Dynamics
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-30
Updated: 2016-05-18
Packaged: 2018-06-05 12:58:50
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 18,523
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6705373
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rjslpets/pseuds/Rjslpets
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tony is sure that they should keep the fact that he is the Omega of the Avengers Pack quiet. Pissing off Fury always lends special sauce to a situation.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. To the Stark Lab, Boy Wonder!

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [It Only Hurts (When I Breathe)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/633276) by [Ocean_Born_Mary](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ocean_Born_Mary/pseuds/Ocean_Born_Mary). 



> So, this is the second story in the series and I will be posting at least once a week. I would also point that Tony only uses the verb "annoy" because Steve doesn't approve of bad language.
> 
> If you haven't read the first work in this series, this world has pack dynamics and Tony has agreed to become the Omega of the Avengers Pack. By custom, Omegas lead very sheltered lives and have little or no contact outside their packs. But Tony is a unique Omega.

Operation: Annoy Fury came into existence during the seclusion that followed Tony’s induction as Omega of the Alpha Pack. Once the Alpha mojo faded and Tony could think straight, he began to consider the implications of his new position. Not the restrictions, he had already thought through those. No, Tony was contemplating how the larger world, which always went for his jugular, would react to him as an Omega. He decided that a little misdirection would be necessary and then, well, let’s just say that he appreciated a good technical challenge. Out of all these thoughts arose Operation: Annoy Fury. Tony actually called it something else, but Steve did not appreciate the casual use of bad language, so ‘annoy’ it was.

Tony figured that Clint would be totally up for his diabolical plan. He wasn’t sure that Steve would be, but he would deal with his Alpha later. The first step had been to make sure that Fury would be misdirected into thinking that it was possible that Clint has been chosen as the Omega of the Avengers Pack. That had been accomplished by having Clint function as the Pack guard for the new Omega, joining Tony in his isolation. It also had the side effect of forcing Clint to take a more active role in the Pack’s daily interactions, as opposed to hiding in the vents and stalking everyone on the team. Now, once the rest of the Pack finally dispersed, Tony could move on to step two.

Getting rid of the rest of the Pack took some time. Tony would have thought that after the two weeks seclusion that followed his induction as Omega, the Pack would scatter immediately to take care of everything they had let go. Instead, the Pack lingered over breakfast until Tony was almost ready to scream. OK, he expected that everyone would want to have one last go at feeding him (although they needed to stop this or he would blow up like a balloon), but a final bath? Really? They had done nothing but coddle him for two weeks. Still, as Omega, he indulged them (and it was indulging them. He was not preening under the attention; he just wasn’t).

Thor started the general exodus, saying that he was returning to London to spend the week with Jane. The next to leave was Bruce for his lab; he had, like Tony, brought research to work on during seclusion. He did come out of his science daze enough to ask Clint to call him when lunch was ready. Natasha left next after reminding Steve that they were both due at SHIELD that morning. Steve lingered for a quick cuddle and scenting, assuring Tony that he would be back by dinner. Tony was proud of the way that he gave each Pack member an individual good bye, carefully checking their scents to make sure that they were happy. FINALLY, they were all gone and Tony, feeling like Mrs. Cleever having sent Wally and The Beeve off to school, flopped back on the couch and turned to Clint.

“Clint, how would you feel about helping me with an epic project?”

Clint looked at him a little dubiously. “Tony, you can’t leave Pack quarters, you know that right? Steve would be furious with you and he would _kill_ me.”

“Nah, Legolas, I wouldn’t do that. I’ve been thinking about what it will mean if everyone finds out that I‘m the Avengers Omega.” He was interrupted by Clint growling.

“Non-verbal, really? I haven’t even said anything scary yet. But I am going to assume that you agree that it would be better if we kept that fact on the down low. As a side effect, we can piss off Fury which is always special sauce to a situation.”

“Tony, are you planning anything that is going to make Captain America look at us with disappointment?”

“A reasonable question, Merida, and no. This project will not subject us to the ‘Captain America is disappointed in you’ look. I am totally trademarking that by the way. On the contrary, I think he will be very enthusiastic. Now, to the Stark Lab, Boy Wonder!”

“Tony, I can put up with the archery nicknames, but I am not Robin and you are certainly not Batman.”

Tony did not bother to reply that he knew Batman and there were more commonalities between them than Clint would ever guess. Instead, he led the way to his private lab. When he agreed to become Omega, he made sure that all of his projects were transferred up there since he knew that the lower levels would be off limits to him; he even had a special elevator built so he could bring up his cars to work on. He had been planning this special project through the last week of seclusion and he was eager to see if his theories would work in practice. He explained to Clint that the first part of the project would mean creating a test substance. By the time lunch arrived (according to Clint), the fabricators were busy with 3 different possible formulations.

They went to the Pack kitchen, picking up Bruce on their way. While Bruce and Clint made sandwiches, Tony explained Project: Annoy Fury – not that he told them that was its name.

“I want to hide the fact that I am the Omega as long as possible. Not that I’m not proud of the Pack or my position.” He added quickly as he saw them starting to protest. “However, we all know that I’m probably the most vulnerable out of the suit and, frankly, this only makes me a more attractive target. So…I thought if we could start with misdirection and then illusion, we can avoid anyone at least confirming anything.”

“That does make sense.” Bruce said slowly. He was familiar with the attempts, both assassination and kidnapping, that had been made on Tony in the recent past. There were several times that Happy had asked Bruce to accompany Tony as a deterrent. He doubted that Tony had bothered to inform Steve of these situations.

“Yeah, I get that having me as the guard was part of that. SHIELD wanted me to be Omega and me not coming in makes that seem like it happened. What?” Clint said in response to the look Tony sent him. “My head may not be on completely straight at the moment, but nobody sees the outline of a situation better than me. But Fury isn’t going to be deceived for long. Even if I stay with you for the entire three months, someone is going to get a whiff of you and know.”

“And that is where our morning’s work will come in. I think I have developed a material that will block my scent and look like a normal scent guard.”

There was a long silence. Neither Bruce nor Clint looked thrilled at this development and the scent... Tony stared at them and then realization hit. “No, guys, I am not saying that I would wear these all the time! Just as misdirection. I mean, eventually, I am going to have to go to a briefing with Fury, or a charity event, or a business meeting. Somewhere with non-Pack people. The guards will prevent them from smelling the Omega scent.” Still a not happy silence. “Of course, I would never be alone without Pack with these hypothetical non-Pack people in these hypothetical non-Pack situations. And I would only use the guards to deceive the hypothetical non-Pack people, not to avoid restrictions on omega activities.” And the thing was, Tony reflected, that was actually true. Now that he had become Omega, he was uneasy at the thought of being outside of his territory and really uncomfortable at the thought of being without any Pack around him. It was like he had gotten a second brain, an Omega Brain, and it had definite (negative) opinions about everything non-Pack.

Once he had convinced them that the purpose of the material was to protect him, Tony found two enthusiastic collaborators. Clint’s nose was the most sensitive, so they used him as the test subject. The first two combinations were total failures; the third had some problems but Bruce suggested possible tweaks. It was while they were waiting for the next batch of test substances, that Clint brought up the question of Steve again.

“You really need to tell him what you’re doing, Tony. I mean, I think he is going to get behind it since it does give you a measure of safety; and he went along with your suggestion to misdirect Fury. So, why didn’t you already tell him?”

Tony stalled on answering for a few minutes. To tell the truth, he wasn’t sure why telling Steve seemed like such a bad idea. Maybe it was an Omega thing, the idea that he would be hiding his scent from his Alpha? Over the last two weeks, Tony had watched tension he hadn’t known Steve had leave the Alpha. His shoulders, while still broad, were less stiff and he was in general less watchful for disaster. As Tony’s scent permeated the penthouse, Steve had practically bathed in it. He had spent every night with his nose buried in the Omega’s neck. Tony had a bone-deep certainty that Steve would not react well to the Omega hiding his scent, even if it was from non-Pack.

“I know I have to tell him and it does make like strategic sense, which is totally his line. I just think he is going to freak about me being able to hide my scent.”

“Probably, he will. Steve is a strong Alpha and he wants a strong Omega bond with you. But, Tony, his discomfort doesn’t mean that your idea is without merit. It will make you safer and that is very important to all of us and Steve most of all.” Bruce pointed out. “I mean, I am not crazy about the idea. Your scent even makes the Other Guy happy. Almost as much as those huge chocolate bars.” Clint and Tony smirked at this; all the Pack knew that Bruce tried to eat healthy and the fact that the Hulk got chocolate bars every time he appeared irked Bruce no end. “So the idea of seeing you and not smelling you is, well, unsettling. But” he said holding up a hand to stop Tony from interrupting, “we all knew that you were not a traditional Omega and this will make accommodating those differences a lot easier.”

“You still need to tell Steve and tonight.” Clint stressed, “I am not having my Alpha mad at me.”

“Look, I’ll tell him when we have a successful compound. No point in doing it before then.” They all agreed and, because Tony was Fate’s bitch, the next test batch worked like a charm.


	2. Omega Brain Wants, Omega Brain Gets

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steve and Natasha come home and Tony realizes something.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, there I am going along all happy and fluffy and then everything took a turn.

Tony had asked JARVIS to set up a permanent signal for when any of the Pack either left or came back to the Tower. He wasn’t sure that he would actually pay any attention to the alerts; his track record on that was not good. But the Omega Brain he had picked up felt that it was important and, apparently, it had more control over the rest of him than he thought. Because, he found himself immediately leaving the workshop and heading to the main elevator when the alert sounded; even though he was deep in solving a problem with one of Clint’s arrows.

He stood there waiting at the elevator and asked himself what the hell he was doing there. He had no idea what he was going to do when Steve and Natasha walked off the elevator. He had a sudden flashback of himself standing in almost the same position when he was very small waiting for his parents to come back, and look at how badly that had gone. Tony was all ready to run away when the elevator doors opened and Natasha walked out followed by Steve.

Tony stepped forward frowning. She smelled…wrong, not Pack scents over her skin. He disliked it, really, really disliked it. Without really thinking it through, he lifted his hand and sent his wrist with its gleaming blue scent glands sliding down her face. Some part of Tony’s mind, the part that liked living, was screaming that touching Natasha without permission was asking for painful retaliation. The Omega Brain, on the other hand, was smug that the nasty non-Pack scent had been eliminated and replaced with right scent, his. Tony noted to himself that Omega Brain was possessive.

Natasha went still when Tony stepped forward with a frown on his face. She watched his hand come up and realized that he was going to touch her, in greeting she supposed.  As his wrist came toward her face, she decided that she would not move away as that would be disrespectful to her Omega. She did not expect to have to fight an instinct to sway forward in to his hand as the scent from his glands hit her nose. All day she had been slightly off base; now she realized that she had missed this scent. She should have known that, she chided herself, even as she turned her head slightly towards Tony’s hand. She had been luxuriating in his scent for the last two weeks; of course she missed it. She ignored the knowing smirk on Clint’s face. She could get him back later.

Natasha had never been in a Pack with an Omega before. It had always interested Natasha, in a vague way that the military was devoted to the concept of Omega. She could never understand how that kind of intense Pack bond could be useful. But feeling the warmth that swept through her, she acknowledged that there was very little she would not do to preserve this feeling. Briefly she wondered how Steve had withstood the loss of it.

Tony, stunned that he was still breathing and had all his limbs, turned to Steve. The smell was even worse! His Alpha stank of other non-Pack smells (Omega Brain was practically screaming in outrage). Tony’s hand was sliding up to Steve’s cheek and into his hair without a thought. Steve had none of Natasha’s surprise; he swept Tony into a hug, using his superior height to set his nose against Tony’s neck. Tony stiffened in surprise and then relaxed into the embrace; Omega Brain hummed with pleasure at the cleansing of nasty non-pack from his Alpha. Make that _very_ possessive.

Steve released him and stepped back, but kept a hand on his shoulder. “Are we in time for dinner?”  Just as if this was an everyday occurrence. And maybe it was, thought Tony, Steve, after all, was the only one of them who had lived with an Omega before. Maybe Omega Brain was right about greeting everyone at the door. He was still alive after having touched Natasha without explicit permission, so yay, Omega Brain? Of course, Omega Brain was the one who didn’t want to tell Steve about the scent-blocking material, so there is that.

“We’re ordering take-out.” Clint answered Steve when it was obvious that Tony was not going to talk. “We decided on Chinese since some of us have been doing a lot of cooking.” Steve and Natasha exchanged a quick glance. This was the most sociable that Clint had been since the archer had moved in to the Tower. Ribbing his Alpha from the couch was definitely an improvement over rarely being on floor level or visible. “It is coming in about 10 minutes max, so get a move on.” Clint continued.

Tony shook himself like a dog coming out of the water. “Yup, chop, chop! Food coming! Don’t look at me sideways.” He said to Steve, “I ate lunch and, I think, a snack. Didn’t I Brucie-bear?”

Bruce snorted at the nickname but nodded in agreement with the statement and Natasha noted with amusement that Steve seemed to relax at the assurance that his Omega had been fed and cared for in his absence. She was still considering her reaction to Tony’s greeting; she rarely surprised herself with her reactions and it didn’t please her. She was pleased at the change in Clint. He was trading absurd nicknames with Tony as they set the table together.

“Sir,” JARVIS spoke, “The food delivery has arrived in the lobby.”

“Send…oh wait, that won’t work.” Tony, to her surprise, actually looked confused by the situation. “I guess one of you will have to go down and get it?” He asked a little cautiously. “The ventilation system should clean out the air in the elevator by the time it gets to the lobby.” He glanced at Steve for confirmation who nodded.

“I’ll go.” Said Clint and went, with Tony yelling after him that he had already paid everything, including the tip and if it was Andy (who normally delivered their food) to say hi for him. Tony was quiet as they waited for Clint to return and Natasha found that his discomfort was affecting her.

Tony was watching the elevator, still feeling off-balance. It was the first time that the limits on his freedom had been clear. He couldn’t have Andy deliver Chinese food to the Pack quarters. In fact, he would never see or talk to Andy again; wouldn’t trade Mandarin phrases with him or ask him how his engineering classes were going. Reality had smacked him in the face. Waiting for a Pack member to get a delivery because he could not be near the delivery guy brought it all home. All of the casual interactions that had been a normal part of his life, slipping down to the employee coffee bar to get coffee and flirt with Bea (the coffee lady who had been at Stark Industries longer than anyone else); grabbing a doughnut from the bakery on the next block, were no longer possible.  He was the Omega of the Avengers Pack.


	3. I Would Say Ungovernable

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Pack settles in for dinner and Natasha considers about the current situation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OK - I am posting early as I am tired of struggling with this chapter. I have never written Natasha before and I hope I got her voice right. I am also hoping we go back to light and fluffy in the next chapter:-)
> 
> And for those of you who like world building, there is more discussion of how I think the Packs work.

_Tony was watching the elevator, still feeling off-balance. It was the first time that the limits on his freedom had been clear. He couldn’t have Andy deliver Chinese food to the Pack quarters. In fact, he would never see or talk to Andy again; wouldn’t trade Mandarin phrases with him or ask him how his engineering classes were going. Reality had smacked him in the face. Waiting for a Pack member to get a delivery because he could not be near the delivery guy brought it all home. All of the casual interactions that had been a normal part of his life, slipping down to the employee coffee bar to get coffee and flirt with Bea (the coffee lady who had been at Stark Industries longer than anyone else); grabbing a doughnut from the bakery on the next block, were no longer possible._

Natasha was not sure what Tony was thinking. But she could see that he was… processing something.  She walked over and placed her hand on his shoulder; not, she mused, a gesture that she would have done two weeks ago. To her surprise, Tony turned towards her and smiled. “How was your day? Ah, happy I see. How many baby agents did you and Steve reduce to tears?” The tone was teasing, but there was a real affection there and he remained open beneath her hand, not defensive or concerned. She decided she liked the change.

“If they cannot handle a little intimidation, then SHIELD is not the place for them.” She replied loftily, and then ruined the effect by adding in a somewhat sulky tone, “Steve refused to let me actually damage anyone.”

She was rewarded by Tony’s laugh and a lightening in the Omega scent in the room. Clint came in with the food and as they gathered around the table, Steve caught her eye and smiled in thanks. So he had felt the Omega’s distress as well, but had let her handle it. She wasn’t sure how she felt about that either. She thought back to the conversation she had with the Alpha earlier that day.

\---------

She had been unsurprised that Steve had maneuvered them out to lunch and picked a restaurant where it was unlikely they would be overheard. She added her own checks to his and was able to assure him when they sat down that their discussion would remain confidential. It was hardly surprising that he wanted to speak to her privately for the first time since induction. She had been planning on getting him out if he had not taken the initiative.

Steve waited until they had gotten their orders to start the discussion. “Natasha, now that we have a new order in the Pack, you and I need to be on the same page.”

She raised an eyebrow inquiringly. Steve replied to her look by saying, “You’re my second in the Pack, you know.” When she didn’t immediately respond, Steve raised his eyebrow in a mocking return. “Surely, you knew that you were second? Who else would it be?”

“I thought it was Tony.” She noted that she no longer referred to the Omega as Stark.

“Tony? God no, Tony is a born Omega and no Omega is part of a chain of command. I still can’t believe how that fell into place. We are incredibly lucky that he didn’t already have a Pack. I met Bucky at six and his pack was already starting to coalesce around him.” At her confused look, he sighed and continued, “You aren’t at all familiar with Omegas are you?”

“The Red Room considered them to be unstable.”

“I would say ungovernable is more accurate. The Omega is not under the command of the Alpha, or anyone really. An Omega thinks only of the Pack. In the military, they are given a special rank to accommodate the fact that they’re not great at following orders. If you’re lucky, an Omega will follow your orders up to and until it conflicts with what the Omega thinks is best for the Pack.”  Steve paused, “Most people who have the personality to be Omegas chose to become one when they are young and start forming Pack bonds. They generally don’t form a permanent Pack until they are older, but you can tell who they are. I knew Tony would be an amazing Omega when I met him and I am still stunned that he wasn’t already in a Pack.”

“He was always out of step with his age group. He would have hit adolescence around people in their early twenties.”

“That would explain it then. So, we’re lucky that we have a strong Omega available to us to hold the Pack. But as my second, you need to be on good terms with Tony. If something happens to me, you would become Alpha and you can’t do that if Tony doesn’t support you.”

“When you told me that you were going to ask Tony to be Omega, I wondered how the relationship between you would work. You fight about everything.”

Steve laughed, “Tony fights with me because he’s an Omega through and through. He trusts me absolutely, but that doesn’t mean he agrees with me. Believe me; you haven’t seen a real fight between us yet. The first time I say or do something that he feels harms the Pack, he will be at me with fists flying.”

“The prospect doesn’t seem to disturb you.” observed Natasha.

Steve shrugged, “Remember I lived with Bucky for years before he was Omega and then after. They are as stubborn and protective as any Alpha. I told Tony that his willingness to fight with me was one of the reasons I knew he was an Omega. If he is that angry, I probably am making a stupid call.”

This seemed to be an opening for a question she had wanted to ask him since he had suggested Tony. “Why did Bucky wait so long to be Omega if, as you say, he was a natural?”

“Me. I’ve always been an Alpha, just didn’t have the physique to back it up.” He replied wryly. “No Alpha is going to let a second Alpha with a primary relationship to the Omega into a Pack. And I say that as Alpha to my second.”

Steve leaned towards her, obviously ready to get to the bottom line of this conversation, “Natasha, I am Alpha of the Avengers Pack. But you are second and you will take over if something happens to me. But, that can only work if Tony supports you. You need to deepen your relationship with him and I am going to try and allow space for that to happen. That’s won’t be easy, I know myself and I am incredibly possessive of my Omega, but I am going to try.”

Natasha agreed to work with Tony and listened respectfully to some ideas that Steve had on how to strengthen her relationship with the Pack’s Omega as well as the responsibilities and privileges of the Omegas; seeing how Tony was taking on responsibilities for Pack cohesiveness from Steve.  She was surprised to learn that Omegas were kept in seclusion not only because of the Pack’s possessiveness, but also the Omega temperament. Steve told her stories of the Omegas he had seen on rampages in the War. He called the state ‘going feral’ and explained that it was triggered by anything that threatened to take the Pack away from the Omega. “Omegas are as possessive, if not more possessive, of their Packs as Packs are of their Omegas. Just wait until one of us forms an attachment outside the Pack. Tony will either pull them into the Pack or rage until we give them up.”

\-------------

With that conversation in mind, as the Pack was enjoying its meal, Natasha considered the recent changes in Pack dynamics. Steve, as he had said during their chat, was happy to surrender a significant part of his Pack responsibilities to Tony. He had reassured her when she seemed concerned. “Don’t worry. Tony has been taking care of us for almost the whole time we have been together. I’ve just helped him realize that.” As she looked around the table, she could see what he meant. Clint had benefitted the most obviously from the changes; he was more relaxed and participatory than he had been since Loki. But, and she eyed the scientist, Bruce had also become calmer and settled.

So, thought Natasha, how have I changed? For, she reasoned, if everyone else has than I must have as well. She analyzed her behavior. She had become more attached to Tony in the short time since induction. She had not had a negative reaction to his touching of her face without permission and that was unusual for her. Then, because Natasha was always ruthlessly honest with herself (a gift that no one and nothing else in the world gave her), she admitted that she had enjoyed the welcome and that she wanted it to become a ritual that she could look forward to. The thought of Tony leaving the Pack was met, on her part, with instant disapproval.  She tested the thought of a closer relationship, of inviting him to some intimacy with her? Yes, Steve was correct – it was time to develop a closer relationship with the Pack’s Omega.


	4. Just the Hot Fudge on a Crappy Sundae

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony has to tell Steve about the scent guards

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I am working through this story a little faster than I thought and may have another chapter ready this Sunday.

Amused Bruce watched the interactions of the Pack at dinner. Steve had arranged their chairs so that Tony was seated under the curve of his arm. He would occasionally put pieces of food in Tony’s mouth as he told Tony the latest gossip from SHIELD with additions by Natasha. Clint and Tony were engaged in a tossing contest: Tony would toss food at Clint and try to catch him off-guard. Needless to say, it never worked. Clint would always catch the food. Natasha was relaxed at the other side of the table, watching with a small smile on her face.

“So, what were you doing all day?” Steve asked casually and then looked up sharply when a silence descended on the table. “Tony? What happened today?”

“We were working on a special project.” Tony replied airily. Both Steve and Natasha leveled unimpressed looks at him. “No, that is what we really did.” He pointed his chopsticks at them, “There is no ganging up on the Omega!”

Bruce coughed slightly and then looked at Tony. Tony glared back and then glanced at Clint. Seeing that neither Pack member were willing to help head off this discussion, Tony sighed and bit the bullet, “Well, I’ve been thinking over the last few weeks about what is going to happen when everyone finds out I ‘m the Omega of the Avengers Pack. I mean not the publicity angle, because, let’s face it, I have done far worse things. Not that being the Omega is a bad thing.”

Tony glanced around the table but no one seemed upset, so he kept going. “So, the publicity thing – Pepper is all over that. But the security part, that’s more of a problem. I mean I already get threats…”

“WHAT?” Well, OK, maybe Tony should have told Steve about the threats.

“Tony regularly receives kidnapping and death threats. He has for years.” Tony surprised at the intervention stared at Natasha. She shrugged, “He is one of the richest people in the world and he made weapons for years. Steve, he has an entire personal security staff – of course, he receives threats. And he is right; they will get worse once people know he is an Omega. What is the saying, ‘Kill the Omega, destroy the Pack’? ” Everyone at the table winced.

“OK, moving on. So, we do the little misdirection thing with Fury and everyone, but that will only work for a limited time. So I thought if I could create something that would look like an ordinary scent guard, but worked on an Omega, we could fool everyone a little longer. So, we” he gestured to himself, Bruce and Clint, “did.”

Tony turned to Steve; “I realize that this makes all of you uncomfortable. But it’ll protect the Pack and that’s the most important thing. If I’m seen in public, then no one will think to look for an Omega.”

Natasha watched Steve, saw as his shoulders bowed and he assented. “You’re the Omega, Tony. I just want to make sure that you don’t forget that.” Steve’s words from this afternoon ran through her head “ _An Omega thinks only of the Pack._ ”

Tony tucked himself back into the curve of Steve’s arm, “Steve, I told Clint and Bruce, and I’m telling you and Natasha, I am the Omega of the Avengers Pack. I know you might find this hard to believe, but I take a lot of pride in that and I won’t do anything to hurt the Pack. These scent guards will help me take care of all of you.”

Steve cuddled the Omega a little closer just because he could. After living without an Omega for so long, Steve was aware that he was touch-starved and he appreciated that Tony accommodated that although he could tell the Omega was still uncomfortable with all the physical affection. “Tony, you’re always thinking of us when you create things. I know that. But, sometimes, you don’t always think of all the consequences of protecting us.” He sighed. “OK – you created this and, I have to admit, your reasoning is sound. But there are going to be ground rules on using them. No going out of Pack quarters without at least one member of the Pack in attendance, even with the guards. You do not wear those guards in Pack quarters. And I want veto power on when you can use them. ”

“That may not always be possible Cap. Look,” Tony wanted to be reasonable (“Alpha is unhappy, but being stupid, but cuddling!” Omega Brain was really torn by this situation), “I went into this understanding the limitations and I am not trying to get around the rules. I don’t even want to and if you had any idea how that is freaking me out…Never mind. Back to the main point, I am going to use the scent guards to protect the Pack, not to sneak around.” Tony sniffed a little; everyone’s scent seemed good. Even Steve seemed, well not happy, but not actively unhappy. And frankly, Tony had expected a hell of a lot bigger fight. “OK, so Clint will stay with me through the next three months and Bruce as well. That should really throw everyone watching us.”

“Everyone?” Bruce looked surprised.

“Oh, My Big Green, someone is ALWAYS watching us. The real question is what do we do when those months are up? I mean, I’ve got a StarkPhone launch in 12 weeks and I _have_ to be there. I know that we said no outside meetings for 6 months but this would be me on stage and everyone else well away from me. This phone is essential to meeting the mid-year earnings and the timing is set. No!” Tony held up a hand to ward off interruptions, “I know that none of you like this but we are dependent on Stark Industries and there is no way to explain my absence. I am going to have the Starkphone release in the lobby of the Tower.” He felt the relaxation in Steve at that announcement and grinned; the last release had been an insane event at the Moscone Center in San Francisco with 6,000 people. “Every one of the Avengers should be there. That will screw anyone who thought we had selected an Omega. Steve, can anyone tell from Pack scents if there is an Omega? I haven’t been around omega packs enough to know.”

Steve considered the question, “No, I don’t think so. I mean, an Alpha, of course you can tell because of the Pack bond. But the Omega bond is on you, Tony. I can smell your scent change on me, but…”

“Super senses, right. Clint, you’ve been our test nose, what do you think? No, wait, you haven’t been out of the Tower. Natasha?”

Natasha considered the question as they all looked at her. “I have been feeling slightly off all day and when I came in and you scented me, I immediately knew that was what was missing. So, I would say no, there isn’t any way. Fury asked me about induction today which would also indicate that there is no change in my scent.”

There was stillness around the table. “What did you tell him?” asked Steve.

“That my Alpha had decreed that there was to be no discussion outside the Pack and that I couldn’t break the Pack bond. Then I smiled at him. He thinks it’s Clint.” She said dismissively, “He is going to be very irritated when he finds out he was wrong. But Fury will find out.”

“I know” replied Tony, “And honestly, irritating him is just the hot fudge on a crappy sundae. It’s everyone else that I’m worried about.” There was a silence after that statement and Tony noticed that Steve’s arm got tighter and he had moved his chair even closer.

“I bet three months.” Clint spoke up suddenly. “Come on,” he went on, looking around the table, “we’ll have a betting pool. I say three months from now Fury finds out. Winner gets first dibs on movie night for a month.” This was serious business; first dibs meant not only picking the movie, but choosing the food, including snacks. Steve had had to institute a random drawing to prevent an escalating prank war after Thor provided a whole boar twice in a month.

“I call two months.” Natasha put in quickly.

“Four months.” was Bruce’s pick.

“10 weeks.” from Steve

“Six months.” Everyone turned to look at Tony. He shrugged, “I think, as a genius, I can fool Fury for six months.” And after all even if he lost, Omega Brain pointed out, no one was going to choose food the Omega didn’t like and he could always sulk until they changed the movie. Sometimes, Tony really liked the way Omega Brain thought.


	5. Chocolate and Play Time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There are giant horseshoe crabs eating Nathan hotdogs. The Avengers are called out for the first time since induction and the actual fighting goes fine. Afterwards is another story.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My first action scene and far too much Omega Brain!

_AVENGERS ASSEMBLE!_

The call resounded through the workshop, shaking Tony from his engineering fugue. He pushed back from the worktable and ran to the armor assembly platform. As the armor assembled around him, he called out to JARVIS, “What’s the story, J?”

“Apparently, there is some type of giant crustaceans at Coney Island.”

“Maybe they wanted hotdogs? Hate to think we might interrupt a family outing.”

As he launched skyward, he saw Clint and Bruce scramble into the Quinjet. He hovered waiting for them to get airborne so he could hitchhike on the bottom. Although he wouldn’t admit it, it eased the strain on the arc reactor. Another little issue that he hadn’t discussed with his team was the physical strain that fighting placed on him. Not the bruising, which was inevitable if you fight in a tin can, but the pain that accompanied the massive power generation required to run the armor. He had decided that there was no reason for the Pack to know and he had a surprising ally, Omega Brain. Omega Brain was enthusiastic about not telling the Pack as they would probably prevent Tony from fighting and that was (for some reason) unacceptable to Omega Brain.

His com chirped and he turned his attention to the briefing that was coming over the radio waves. Apparently, according to eyewitnesses, a group of giant horseshoe crabs had wandered onto the shore at Coney Island and were, as improbable as it was, actually eating Nathan hotdogs, or rather the hotdog stand. “How is this my life?” was a thought that occurred to all the Avengers at certain points in their lives. For Tony, that point was reached when he got splattered with green blood and hotdog remains after blasting at the front mandibles of one of the crabs.

He adjusted his repulsors to move himself backwards out of the range of the crabs and checked on everyone’s position. Hawkeye (funny in battle even Omega Brain used their hero names) had climbed the Wonder Wheel and was providing situational information and snark in almost equal amounts. Natasha was spending most of her time dancing on the shells, out of the way of damage and in an excellent position to shock the crabs through cracks in their shells. Steve was using the shield to devastating effect. Tony did not even want to consider what the Hulk was doing – he just hoped that horseshoe crabs weren’t poisonous. Not that it mattered much when it came to the Hulk. “Thank fuck that I built a Hulk-sized bathtub into the Playroom.” he thought and Omega Brain gave wholehearted approval.

“Who the hell enlarges horseshoe crabs? You can’t even eat them! I mean I guess I can see how giant blue crabs might make sense – it would be the best crab feast; although Old Bay would get over everything.” Clint was getting hungry noted Tony. He always started slipping in food references when he was hungry. Tony told Omega Brain to concentrate on the fight and stop worrying about Clint fainting from hunger. Omega Brain responded that they should check on Hawkeye as he could get hurt if he fainted and fell off the ferris wheel. Tony actually started over and then realized that his own brain was trolling him.

“Stop the chatter on the coms, Hawkeye. Ironman, check in.” Tony sighed internally – Cap had been insisting on check ins after every move it seemed. Omega Brain was preening about it too. “This is not a good thing.” Tony explained to Omega Brain, “He is going to give the game away if he checks too much.” “All good here, Cap. Although totally disgusting. Not a crab feast or clambake tonight guys.” He responded to the Alpha.

“Fuck no!” Hawkeye chimed in, “I am thinking of going vegan after watching this.”

“And give up meat lovers pizza and stew? Seems very unlikely.” Natasha was barely breathing hard.

“People, mind on the situation please! Ironman, give Widow air support and I think we can get the last one and call it done.”

Tony swung up and sighted on Natasha. “On my signal, Ironman.” she called. He readied his repulsors and when he heard her call, “Mark” he fired as she slammed her Widow Bites into the last giant crab. He swung down and scooped her up as the body collapsed into the sea, ignoring Omega Brain who was humming happily about helping the second. “My god,” he thought at it, “can you stop flirting for five minutes?” Then Tony realized that he was actually snarking at himself and decided that he needed a shower and a meal. “Call it, Cap?”

“Confirm the all clear from SHIELD. Good work everyone! Ironman, can you pick up Hawkeye and lead Hulk back to the Tower? Widow and I will debrief with SHIELD.”

“Sure Cap. Hawkeye, ready for a lift?”

He laughed to himself as he swung down and scooped up Clint, hearing SHIELD’s point (Sitwell? Was that the name?) trying to stop the majority of the Avengers from skipping out on the debrief.  He flew around the Hulk’s head until he had the Big Guy’s attention. “Ready for chocolate?” The Hulk looked at him and then moved his head closer, “Tinman and Birdie go with Hulk to room? Play with Omega?”

Whoops! Totally forgot to let Hulk in on Operation: Annoy Fury. Tony just hoped that no one had heard since the Hulk (for obvious reasons) not was on coms. “Sure, Big Guy, chocolate and playtime! Follow the leader!” And he swooped away, confident that the Hulk was following. He dropped Clint by the quinjet, checking to make sure that no one got near to him as he ducked aboard. Then Tony flitted ahead of the Hulk back to the Tower. When he had first used this method to get the Hulk back, everyone (i.e., Bruce) had prophesied that there would be massive property damage. But Tony had pointed out that the Hulk was generally careful not to crush anything and the only damage was occasional potholes if the Hulk jumped too hard. Tony was not going to worry about potholes; after all, how could anyone tell which were the Hulk and which were just New York?

He shooed Hulk into the Playroom. Luckily, the Hulk disliked the smell and taste of horseshoe crab and was perfectly willing to splash around in his giant bathtub (thank all that is holy for JARVIS who had had the bath waiting; Hulk stank) and wait for ‘Tinman’ to get out of his suit. Tony shook himself as he was stripped of the armor; absently thanking the bots for their work. In the workroom, he rinsed himself, checked for anything major (just scrapes and bruises), put on a clean pair of jeans and a t-shirt and headed down to the Playroom. He met Clint just outside the door.

“Going to ‘play’?”

Screw you, Birdie. Like you don’t want to join in.”

“I would refute that, but Omega time and chocolate sounds too good to pass up. Any thoughts on dinner?”

“Pizza is easy and should be here when Cap and Nat get back?” Tony wasn’t that hungry, he rarely was after a battle, but Omega Brain was worried sick about the team apparently fainting from hunger and being unable to feed themselves from the completely stocked kitchen. “J. regular order of pizza, minus the Thor portion. Charge it and cover the tip. You’ll have to go down and get it, Legolas.” By the time JARVIS confirmed the order, they were in the Playroom.

The Hulk came wandering into the main Playroom, still wet from his dip in the pool. “Omega play?” his voice was as relaxed as you ever got from the Hulk. Tony figured 10 minutes of Cuddle the Omega and Bruce would be back. As the Hulk settled cross legged where he could watch the big screen, Tony crawled into his lap. The nature show started playing; Tony noted absently that it was chipmunks today. One advantage of the Hulk’s size was he didn’t have to move to reach the stash of chocolate bars and the massive water bottle that were stored in the Playroom. He had even learned how to work his immense fingers and get the bar unwrapped. Tony settled back against the Hulk’s stomach and accepted a piece of chocolate.

Clint had followed Tony in; he and the Hulk had a good relationship (based on their similar levels of maturity according to Natasha). He settled down on the floor in front of the Hulk. The Pack had found through experience that it was mostly best to be where the Hulk could see you. He tended to squash anything he stepped on, but he did try hard to not step on people, when he saw them. The Hulk was in a good mood and offered ‘Birdie’ some chocolate as well; although, Tony noticed, a much smaller piece than he had given the Omega (Omega Brain was smug about this). Tony was counting down the minutes to when he would need to roll to the side to avoid squashing Bruce when Hulk suddenly spoke, “Omega hurt?”

“No Big Guy. I’m fine.”

“Hulk smell blood on Omega, not nasty green blood.”

Clint was staring at Tony. “Are you hurt? You didn’t say you were hurt! Cap is going to kill me; and then he’ll give us both the disappointed Cap face. I hate that face.”

“I’m fine.” Tony insisted, not that he thought it would work, “I just got banged around a bit. I do fight inside a suit of metal. Really, Big Guy,” patting the enormous knee, “I am fine.”

The Hulk peered at Tony and even the Omega could see that he was not mollified. “Puny Bruce can fix.” And then he shrank so fast that Tony pretty much collapsed on top of a very surprised Bruce.

“What happened?” As usual after a transformation, Bruce’s demeanor was confused and dazed. He normally collapsed into sleep immediately after changing back which was how he got out of any debriefs; well, amended Tony that combined with the fact that he didn’t remember the fight. Actually, that was a brilliant strategy for getting out of talking to Fury; maybe, Bruce played it up? Tony certainly would. Omega Brain interrupted this (to it obviously useless) train of thought to point out that Bruce and Clint were upset and Tony should do something about it, before the food and/or the Alpha arrived.

“It’s fine Bruce. I got a bit banged up in the fight and the Big Guy decided that I needed your medical expertise to help me, I don’t know, put on a Band-Aid? Really, it’s just some scratches and a lot of bruises.”

Tony stopped talking at this point as he could see that nothing was going to work. With an exasperated huff, he took off his t-shirt and let Bruce look at the damage. As he had told them, it was minor; the skin around the arc reactor looked the worse, but then it always got that way after the effort to power the suit. But Bruce insisted on bandaging some cuts, giving him some aspirin for the bruises and Clint got an ice pack. Then they both demanded that he lie down in the Pack room and they would arrange the meal up there so Tony would be comfortable. Tony was torn between an intense desire to just hide in his workshop (pre-Omega impulse) and a strong sense of satisfaction. He blamed the latter reaction on Omega Brain who apparently lived to have members of the Pack fuss over perfectly minor injuries. “You already got chocolate – what more do you want?” he fumed to himself. The answer was apparently being tucked into a comfortable nest in the Pack room with an ice pack on largest bruise and Bruce and Clint fussing over him.

Bruce smiled down at him, “You can make faces at us all you like, but this is nothing compared to what Steve is going to do when he gets back.” Tony groaned.


	6. Your Stomach Is Growling Loud Enough to Register on a Dosimeter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Alpha gets back and Omega Brain fixes everything.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Surprise! Three chapters this week! Also, fluff, total fluff.
> 
> I owe a debt to a wonderful story by Ocean_Born_Mary called It Only Hurts (When I Breathe) that made me really think about the physical side effects of the arc reactor.
> 
> We get back to annoying Fury in the next chapter (I had to let him stew for awhile).

Things went down with Steve about as Tony expected. Steve and Natasha actually made it back before the pizza (probably because any pizza place would take a while to make 7 pizzas at two in the morning even in New York – especially when the place was in Queens and delivering to Manhattan). Tony’s Pack signal went off and he hoisted himself out of the nest that Bruce and Clint had cocooned him in. Ignoring their protests, he ambled down to the main floor to wait by the elevator. Looking back later, he realized that the whole situation would have gone better if he had remembered to put on his shirt.

Steve was hungry and tired. Of course, he always seemed to be hungry – it was hard to remember a time when he wasn’t. Early in his life, it was poverty, now it was his metabolism. But the hunger was somehow reassuringly the same, a single constant in his life. He had spent the last hour fencing with Fury to avoid saying anything about the change in pack status and hours before that fighting with giant horseshoe crabs who had wrecked one of his favorite places from his youth. He wanted food and his Pack, and his Omega. He was pretty certain that food would be forthcoming; Tony had always insisted on them eating after a battle. Since this was their first battle after induction, he was hoping that Tony would not be hiding in his workshop, trying to avoid the Pack. “What do you think Tony ordered for dinner?” he asked Natasha idly, watching the floor numbers change.

“I would guess pizza from that shop in Queens. Most of the others we use are closed right now. He will have ordered the usual, minus Thor, and he will eat almost nothing.” She replied crisply. In spite of the hour, the fight and the debriefing, Natasha still looked completely put together. Sometimes, Steve thought pettishly, her calm was really annoying.

“You noticed that as well? He always takes some and then talks really fast and gestures a lot so we won’t notice he isn’t eating. I know that he hides out in the workshop when he’s injured, but he promised me he wouldn’t do that anymore.”

“I have wondered if,” she paused delicately, not wanting to upset the Alpha, but this probably needed to be said, "the arc reactor, have you ever really looked at it?”

“I noticed that it seems to go fairly deep into his chest if that what you mean. Bruce talked to me early on when we all started training together to warn me to keep an eye on him; he was worried about Tony’s lung capacity. I assume that he has some kind of compensating mechanism in the suit like extra oxygen.” Steve had very vivid memories of being short of breath and he didn’t like thinking of Tony experiencing the sensation. He had watched very carefully for the first few months, but Tony had never exhibited any breathing difficulties during battles or flight.

Natasha nodded thoughtfully, “I also assumed that, but after watching him, I have wondered if the suit causes him pain.” She was hesitant to mention this possibility and was prepared to head off Steve if he became overprotective. Tony may be the Omega but Ironman was essential to his life.

“Bruce mentioned that to me as well.” At her surprise, he smiled and said, “Bruce has lived more closely with Tony than the rest of us and I needed all the information I could get on my team. He said that Tony had days he spent on the couch because of the arc reactor. There is nothing we can really do about it if that is true. Remember what I told you about Omegas; there is no way to prevent Tony from going when we assemble. We just have to take care of him afterwards.”

The doors slid open and Steve saw, as he expected, Tony standing, bouncing a little on his feet, waiting to welcome them home. He felt a flush of warmth, of homecoming – until he saw the bruises on Tony’s chest. The flesh around the arc reactor was angry red and puffy. He was out of the elevator with Tony in his arms before even Natasha could react, heading to the Pack room. He was also muttering, but he only realized that when Tony said to him, “Cap, Bruce already looked me over and he and Clint tucked me up with an ice pack. I just got up to come down and greet you. Hi Natasha!”

Tony extended his hand towards Natasha over Steve’s shoulder. She moved into range and let him run his wrist over her hair and smiled up at him. She was relieved that he didn’t seem at all upset by Steve’s manhandling. He rolled his eyes at Steve’s fussing which had continued unabated and gave her a conspiratorial grin before going back to soothing the Alpha down. “Really, Cap, it is just some bruises and a few cuts. I’ve had a lot worse without this amount of fussing. Ooookaaay, obviously wrong thing to say. Nope, never been injured before, right? Totally minor boo-boos. Just like now and look! Bruce gave me an Ironman bandaid.”

Natasha started laughing; the picture in front of her was hilarious. Steve was frowning down at Tony who was waving his elbow in front of him to show off the cartoon on the bandage.  Then she watched Tony’s face change, become softer. He moved his hand to sweep into Steve’s hair, subtly spreading his scent over the Alpha, and began murmuring softly to him. “I am fine Steve. I just got up to greet you and I was going right back to my little nest and my ice pack. Bruce has a hot pad ready to go once he thinks I have iced the bruises enough. I ordered pizza from that nice place in Queens and tomorrow, I will ask Pepper to fix Coney Island for you. Right now, the only thing that is disturbing me is the fact that your stomach is growling loud enough to register on a dosimeter. Really, I am right above it and I can barely hear you over the noise it is making.”

Natasha caught Clint’s eye and they shared a look. Their Omega apparently had become an expert in handling their Alpha. They watch as Tony’s joking complaints about the rumbling of Steve’s stomach eased the tension in the Alpha’s shoulders. By the time Steve had tucked Tony back into his “nest” he was joking with Tony about whether Bruce had also given him a lollipop for being brave while Bruce fixed his boo-boo.

\-------------

Tony checked in with Omega Brain and was relieved to find it humming contentedly. It was his first post-battle time as Omega and he had been very concerned about getting it right; not that he had mentioned that to anyone. He had been so concerned that he had called back the Omega from the Airforce and asked him for some tips. He looked around the Pack room. Everyone was eating (number two on the list); they had all been checked and treated for injuries (number one on the list). He had calmed down Steve and the Alpha’s scent was peaceful; very different from when Steve had gotten off the elevator. Then his scent had been distressed. And not just about Tony’s bruises, Tony had suddenly remembered Steve dragging him to Coney Island for hotdogs before the whole Omega thing. Coney Island was still familiar to Steve, as so few things were in the city he loved. Omega Brain had picked up on Steve’s distress and Tony had immediately decided that Stark Industries would help restore Coney Island and then Steve could go back and feel better. Omega Brain agreed enthusiastically and suggested that lighthearted teasing might relax the Alpha and remind him that the danger was over.

At least that was one thing to Omega Brain’s credit; it was incredibly sensitive to the emotional states of his Pack mates. Tony had never noticed how scents provided emotional clues before, or maybe it was becoming Omega that did it. He could pick up even very subtle changes in his Pack’s moods. Like he could tell when Natasha was uneasy and likely to be wandering around at night. He could then arrange to bump into her in the kitchen and she would make him her special tea. Or when Bruce was frustrated because his experiments weren’t working well, Tony could detect that. Of all the advantages, the biggest one was that he could always tell when Clint was in the vents above the space he was in. Of course, that ruined Clint’s fun, but it really cut down on accidents in the lab.

Now, if he could just get them to stop trying to feed him; this was partially his fault as he had established a pattern of never rejecting the Pack when they fed him. But he really didn’t want any more food. After a battle, the area around the arc reactor hurt and, since his esophagus was there, he didn’t like to swallow, and, in fact, could only get down very small bites. He had already eaten the equivalent of a slice of pizza and that was quite enough. Just as he was thinking this, Steve bent over him and whispered, “Tony, do you not want to eat anymore? I can stop the Pack from feeding you for now.” He sighed in relief and nodded; Steve could handle it and Tony could just rest.


	7. Foot Rub To World Domination

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steve fences with Fury and then comes home to Tony.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was supposed to be all about moving the plot forward, but Tony decided to have sex instead.

“Captain, I think I made it clear that debriefings were mandatory for all Avengers?” Fury growled. The Avengers were yet again only partially at a debrief. This time Bruce was present, but Tony, Clint and Natasha were not. They had been switching who was absent with Tony and Clint as the only constants for the last 10 weeks. Steve was concerned that they were going to have to go with Tony’s plan before too long and _no one_ liked Tony’s plan. If they wanted to keep everyone guessing, Tony and/or Clint was going to have to attend a debrief and Steve would take Tony’s ability to fool Fury over Clint’s. Not because Tony was a better liar (he definitely wasn’t), but because Clint’s tells were too well known to Fury.

“Black Widow is down in medical and Hawkeye will not come on the helicarrier. We have had the discussion about that several times and his therapist has determined that he should not be forced.” This was actually true. Clint had started therapy with someone that Pepper had found and who would come to the Tower. Steve had no idea how Tony had convinced Clint to start therapy, but he had and it was making a difference. When he had asked Tony, the billionaire had shrugged and muttered something that sounded like ‘Omega Brain.’

“And Ironman? Stark seems to have decided that any SHIELD meetings are optional.” Fury was getting close.

“He doesn’t work for SHIELD so if he blows off the meetings, there is not much I can do.  Without Thor, Ironman is our only air support and he is one of our heavy hitters. Besides, I am not sure that we get much done when he is here; the meetings seem to degenerate when Stark is present. And, Sir, he didn’t do much today since the fight was pretty much over when he arrived.” There, use of last name to indicate emotional distance and an implication that Tony had been late to the fight maybe because he was out of town. Steve was proud of himself for never addressing Tony by his first name outside of the Tower. The fact that the actual delay had been due to Tony first hacking the networks of the idiot with the really bad robot army could go unsaid. “But I’ll talk to him and make sure he understands the importance of these meetings.” Steve congratulated himself on saying that with a straight face, considering that they had spent most of the debriefing fencing about Clint and Tony while Bruce slept at the conference table.

Finally, the meeting was over and Steve woke Bruce, or rather, brought him to a state of consciousness where he could walk the scientist to the transport back to the Tower. Natasha met them on the deck of the helicarrier and Steve did a quick check for injuries. She had hurt her wrist, but apparently it was only twisted, not even serious enough to be called a sprain. Only three of his Pack ever needed medical attention; of course, they would be the three who didn’t trust medical staff. Steve could leave it alone if Bruce or Thor refused to go to medical, since he was pretty convinced neither of them could be damaged. He himself healed up from almost everything. The other three were vulnerable and could and did get hurt. It was just irritating that Steve had to chase them all down for medical care. Natasha and Clint were professionals; he shouldn’t have to sit on them to get them proper medical attention. And Tony…Tony was a disaster. Since induction, the Omega had been unable to elude Steve’s insistence that he be checked, but he had only had minor wounds. Steve was dreading the day Tony got hurt worse than Bruce could handle. They needed a doctor they could trust in Pack territory and with their Omega; to complicate things further, the doctor had to be someone Tony trusted and that was no one in the medical profession at this point.

Steve got Bruce and Natasha aboard the Stark chopper that they had started to use to ferry them back and forth to SHIELD. The quinjet was fine for longer distances but only Clint and Natasha were rated for flying it at this point. Steve was learning but he needed more hours of flight time before he felt comfortable flying solo; the chopper he could handle as SHIELD had gotten him trained on it when they were trying to find ways to keep him occupied when he first woke up. Besides, Bruce preferred the chopper as it was transparent which apparently kept him calm. Although, Steve reflected, half the time he was asleep on it. He really wanted to get back to the Tower. Natasha was in a crappy mood and he couldn’t blame her. She would be out of commission for at least a week with her wrist injury and Natasha hated any kind of weakness in herself. “Bruce, are you awake enough to have a conversation?” There was no response. Steve sighed.

“What is it?” asked Natasha on the coms that they all had to use due to the noise of the chopper.

“I am running out of ways to hold off Fury on the absence of Tony and Clint at the debriefs. I don’t want Tony out of that Tower until three months have passed. But if I bring Clint in…”

“Fury will know that Tony is the Omega. Well, there is always Tony’s plan.”

“Which we all hate.” There was an unexpected contribution from Bruce. “But his idea may be the best one. At the very least, it totally muddies the waters and tests his scent guards.”

All three of them sighed in unison which, Steve thought, was the ultimate comment on Tony’s plan. It wasn’t on the face of it a bad plan. Tony wanted to arrange a debrief at the Tower, in deference to Clint’s supposed reluctance to go to the helicarrier. All of the Avengers would be present at the meeting, including Tony with his new scent guards. Tony’s arguments in favor of the plan were twofold: one – the meeting would function as a field test of the scent guards before the phone release in two weeks; two – if the scent guards worked, Fury would be confounded on if there even was an Avengers Pack Omega. Everyone understood that the third reason for this plan was that Tony could be there to see Fury’s face.

No one, except Tony, liked the plan. It required that Fury come near to Pack quarters; it required that non-Pack be in the same room with their Omega; and, it required that Tony wear the scent guards. The one thing everyone in the Pack absolutely agreed on was that they hated the scent guards. When Tony put them on, it was like the Omega vanished in front of them. Bruce had actually Hulk’d out once when he came upon Tony and hadn’t known that Tony was testing the guards. No one would participate in sparring with Natasha after she worked with Tony testing the guards; she was downright _vicious_ (even more than normal which was saying something). Clint had sulked in the vents for an entire 48 hours after the first round of testing. When Steve came home unexpectedly during testing, he had isolated Tony in the Pack room and refused to allow him to leave (or get dressed) for two days.  Steve winced at the idea of having to conduct a debrief under those conditions. The entire Pack would be on edge while exhausted and lying to Fury. “I just don’t see how we are going to pull the whole thing off. We are all a mess when Tony wears those things. It’ll be after a battle and we’ll all be exhausted.”

“That might actually help.” Natasha said suddenly. Both Bruce and Steve stared at her. “Think about it. Bruce will be mostly asleep; even with the guards, I doubt he could react much. Clint is supposed to be dealing with major trauma and Fury hasn’t actually been in the same room with him since the Chitauri attack; Tony is going to be posing and strutting, which is pretty normal for him. Steve, if you do your ‘I am so tired of being the only grownup in the room’ act, I think we could pull this off.” They were still staring at her. She sighed, “The best lies are mostly truth. If the only lie in the meeting is that Tony is not the Omega, this could work. Do I need to remind you that this is my field of expertise?”

They landed on the roof of the Tower with the discussion still going on, at least between Steve and Natasha. Bruce was asleep again. As had become usual, Tony was waiting for them. He gave them his customary greeting, brushing his wrist glands over faces and hair, while keeping up a non-stop stream of chatter. He grabbed Bruce’s arm and towed him to the Pack room and made sure that the scientist was bedded down comfortably. Bruce used to go to his room to sleep, but Tony complained that meant that the Omega had to wake up hours later and wander down to the kitchen to sit with him while he ate. If he was in the Pack room, Tony only had to walk down the hall. Once Bruce was taken care of, Tony turned his attention to Natasha, clucking over her wrist and insisting on her immediately icing it while delicately sniffing to make sure that she had no hidden injuries. He then made sure that she ate the Indian food he had ready, accepting a few ceremonial bites.

Finally, Tony could devote himself to his Alpha for a while. Omega Brain had been very unhappy over the delay in Tony getting into the armor for the fight; Tony had found that logic had very little effect on its instinctive reaction to everything. He had just had to accept its scolding in the back of his mind while he slid through firewalls and around detection subroutines, to the control kernel and the admin account to shut down those (incredibly pathetic) robots. By the time he got into his armor and got to the battle, it was all over. At least that meant that his Pack wasn’t obsessing over his minor injuries. Tony knew he was going to get really hurt eventually and he needed to plan for that. Omega Brain thought they should get a doctor in the Pack or just send Bruce to medical school (Tony was finding that Omega Brain was not very practical either). Tony, who was logical and practical, had asked Pepper to find a discreet, trustworthy doctor who made house calls and treated Omegas. He had reminded her, in response to the pointed silence over the phone, this was hardly the most difficult thing he had ever asked her to do.

But right now, he was going to devote himself to his Alpha who was definitely upset. In his misspent youth, Tony had taken a massage class. It was an attempt in his awkward teenage years to please a girlfriend whose name he no longer remember. If he ever did remember, he was sending the woman chocolate and flowers, because foot rubs reduced Cap to a puddle of goo. Tony had sworn to protect this sensitive information – couldn’t have bad guys creating foot massaging robots to take down Captain America. But he wasn’t above using this skill. A nice shot of Omega scent and a little foot rub and his Alpha was humming happily, even after suffering through another meeting with Fury on the disappearing Avengers. He snuggled himself (O god, he had become a snuggler) into the side of his Alpha and watched him eat, accepting little tastes every now and then. Omega Brain was in heaven.

Steve was more relaxed than he had ever anticipated when he left SHIELD that evening. Tony gave amazing foot rubs; he could probably foot rub to world domination. Steve considered the fact that he might have breathed in too much Omega scent and was a little loopy. It was something he had experienced with Bucky; being so submerged in the scent and feeling of the Omega that everything else became insignificant. Tony was curled against him; he felt the Omega’s tongue play along his clavicle, wandering up and around to the Alpha glands on Steve’s neck. The relaxation vanished, swallowed up by arousal as Tony mouthed his Alpha’s glands. Normally, Steve refused to have sex with Tony after fights as the Omega was too tired to keep up with the younger man. But Tony hadn’t been in the fight, so Steve guessed he could make an exception.

Steve moved Tony in front, easing himself into the big spoon position. Tony grumbled a little at being prevented from continuing his exploration of Steve’s neck, but was pacified by Steve offering him a wrist to mouth. Steve slipped his own hand around Tony’s body down to his cock; over the last two months, they had developed routines to get around the significant mismatch in their stamina, but tonight, Steve felt like indulging. He mouthed the deep blue glands on Tony’s neck, careful not to use any “Alpha mojo” as Tony called it at first. Tony looked over his shoulder, “So, want to have me at your mercy?” the tone was teasing and Steve knew that meant acceptance.

Steve bent his head and licked at the glands while his hand fondled Tony’s cock. He felt Tony shift under his hands and five minutes and an orgasm later, the Omega was pliant and relaxed. Steve loved having Tony like this, his usual brilliance and flash slowed down to a languid pace. The body was so warm and yielding under his hands; he loved being able to move the Omega’s body however he wanted. He nudged Tony’s top leg to lift it slightly and smeared Tony’s come over the inside of the Omega’s thighs. Reaching down, he freed his aching cock and pushed it between Tony’s thighs. He felt Tony laugh sleepily to himself and tighten up his thighs to provide more friction for his Alpha. He held his Omega closer to his chest as he thrust, reveling in the scent and feel of a willing Omega under his hands. He let those sensations carry him over the edge into completion.

Afterwards, he cleaned them both up and moved back to spoon Tony. Tony moved sleepily against him and made a questioning noise. Steve passed his hands in a calming pattern over the Omega’s body and whispered, “It’s ok Tony. I don’t need anything else tonight.” Steve appreciated how generous a lover Tony had turned out to be. Even ignoring the age difference, the super serum gave Steve a very strong sex drive and impressive stamina. On an average night, he would come 2-3 times before being sated; Tony was always willing to accommodate. Tony grunted back and drifted to sleep. Steve smiled to himself and settled into sleep himself. He would deal with Fury tomorrow.                


	8. Let's Not Test to Destruction First

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After the interruption last night, the Pack discusses how to handle Fury and Tony makes a suggestion. Tony also considers the results of a discussion with Omega Brain.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OK - I have now gotten back to plot and I think this story should have another 2 chapters. Also, thank you for the comments and the kudos. It has really kept me going!

At breakfast the next morning, Steve revived the discussion about Fury. “We are going to have to change strategy. Not producing either Clint or Tony has worked to confuse the issue but it still is a temporary solution. I hate to say this, but I think we are going to have to go with Tony’s plan.” The reactions to this statement were about what he expected, unhappy resignation was the best response. He watched Tony, expecting him to be thrilled at getting to try his new tech, but Tony surprised him. The Omega did not jump on the chance to try the scent guards; instead he was quiet, as if puzzling through something that was unfamiliar.

Tony sniffed the air and detected the majorly unhappy scents that everyone was shedding. It was true that he was eager to test his new guards; he was always eager to test his awesome new technology. But the Pack was not pleased and they had a new ally, Omega Brain. Tony had tried to parse the Omega Brain reaction earlier that week as it was a little confusing. Tony had discovered that he was very reluctant to meet Fury. Apparently Omega Brain had decided that Fury was a threat to the safety of the Pack and it did not want to be near him. That reaction could be based on Tony’s interactions with Fury whom he neither liked nor trusted; also, Fury was the one who sent members of the Pack on missions that wound up hurting them. However, Tony had been worried that Omega Brain wouldn’t tolerate _any_ non-pack members.

So, Tony had tested the idea of other non-Pack members on Omega Brain; the reactions varied widely. Rhodey inspired possessiveness; Omega Brain thought Rhodey should be Pack and was irritated that Rhodey wanted to stay with the Airforce (Tony was totally in agreement with Omega Brain on not having his Honey-Bear in the Pack). Pepper, on the other hand, made Omega Brain nervous; it liked her as a person and recognized that she would protect Tony, but Pepper was an Alpha in the SI management pack and Omega Brain was disinclined to meet her. On the other hand, Omega Brain seemed to think that Happy was already part of the Pack, maybe as a work member? Tony wasn’t sure how weak pack bonds worked as the Avenger Pack only had strong bonds. Maybe he could ask Pepper? No, better to ask Steve.

Tentatively, Tony introduced the idea of Stane; not that he could meet with him, but from curiosity on how Omega Brain would react. Tony had expected the instant hatred, but not the resentment that Stane had blocked the Omega. He knew that Steve believed Tony was a born Omega. It had not occurred to Tony that Stane might have identified that and isolated him to prevent a pack from forming.  Tony had known, but hadn’t thought through the implication that all the members of the current SI senior executive pack were people that Tony had hired, and many of them had come to SI before his time in Afghanistan. Like Pepper, they had all started in lower positions in the company, but each of them had quickly risen to the executive suite. Could Stane have seen a pack beginning to coalesce around Tony? It would certainly explain why he decided to have Tony killed at that point, even if Tony was still producing ideas for the company.

With all this in his mind, Tony had decided on a modification of his Project: Annoy Fury. “OK, I have an idea.” He held up his hands as everyone turned to him, “Whoa, stop going to worse case here. I think we should have a test run before going directly to One-Eye. Why don’t we test the scent guards with Pepper? We could meet with her in one of the conference rooms on the floors that Happy closed between SI and, well, me.” He could see them all thinking that suggestion through. It was true that Pepper was not Pack and, in fact, was Alpha of the SI senior management pack. But that was a work pack with weak cohesion. Besides, the Pack all knew and liked Pepper.

Steve considered Tony’s suggestion; he didn’t like it. Actually, he hated it, but he knew that his position as Alpha was distorting his viewpoint in this case.  He liked Pepper but her position in the SI Pack was threatening to him. He had always been curious why Tony had not had a pack coalesce around him. He did understand that during adolescence Tony had been much younger than anyone around him, and that would mitigate the draw to an omega. But by the time he was heavily involved with SI, a work pack should have formed. If it had, than Pepper would have become Tony’s Alpha and, Tony loved Pepper. As Steve had told Natasha, he was very possessive, so he was instinctively against the plan. On the other hand, Steve was an excellent strategist and Tony’s suggestion made perfect sense. It was relatively low-risk, as Pepper already knew that Tony was Omega. She herself was not a physical threat to the Avengers Pack and she cared for Tony and would not willingly hurt him. “I agree that a trial run with a low-risk situation like Pepper makes sense. Actually, if we can have the information leak that both Clint and Tony met with her, we may be able to delay meeting with Fury another couple of weeks.”

The rest of the Pack was not as torn as Steve was and Tony felt the relaxation of the tension. Steve was still upset but that would probably require a private conversation. Tony needed to ask Steve about Happy, so he had a way to start the discussion. He actually wanted to ask Steve about Stane, but he couldn’t see any way to start that conversation without Steve going full protective mode. Certainly Steve had seen SHIELD’s file on Tony, but Tony knew that did not contain the whole situation with Stane. He and JARVIS had made sure of that. “I would like to do this meeting as soon as possible – tomorrow morning would be good.” He knew that Pepper wanted to speak to him anyway; it would nice to actually see her.

After breakfast and the call to Pepper to arrange the meeting the next day, Tony busied himself with what he considered his Omega duties. He wanted to spend some time with Natasha. Not only was she injured, but he hadn’t had any one-on-one time with her this week. His relationship with her was still the one that required the most work. They were building from a shaky foundation, and; as second to the Alpha she needed a stronger relationship with the Omega than the other Pack members. For his part, Tony was conscious that time with Natasha still did not come naturally to him. He easily spent time with Bruce doing science. Clint has been in seclusion with Tony for weeks now and their relationship had deepened and matured because of that. Everyone deferred to Steve’s claims on Tony. So Tony consciously carved out time just for Natasha.

Natasha watched Tony check in with Steve. She understood the Alpha’s reluctance to have another Alpha near his Omega and she admired that Steve could move past that to dispassionately consider the merits of Tony’s plan. Today, she thought, Tony would probably want to spend time with her. They had last spent time together 6 days ago and Tony generally tried to spend time with individual Pack members each week. She herself had worked harder on this relationship than on any other, outside of some very long-term assignments. She considered what they might do together; she had found that bounding with the Omega was easier when they had something other than each other to concentrate on. She had been teaching him stretches to increase flexibility and to ease the tightness in his chest due to the arc reactor. But with her wrist, he would probably insist on something stationary. Perhaps a treat? Yes, Royal Layer Cake would work. They could bake together and at the end, they would share a nice treat.

Tony had never heard of the Russian dessert and was more than happy to eat cake, even if he had to help make it first. As they work, they chatted about SHIELD. Tony was always alert for any hint that SHIELD was pressuring Natasha to do something that she didn’t want to do. Natasha had been irritated by this at first, but finally, after much discussion, she had accepted that Tony did this out of concern. It was still alien to consider that there was someone who was so concerned for her welfare, other than Clint and Coulson. And Tony’s concern was different from theirs as it had nothing to do with a mission; it was instead concern for her personal happiness. They were surrounded with pans of cake when she decided to broach a more sensitive topic. “Why did you suddenly suggest testing the scent guards with Pepper? It was an excellent suggestion but you normally don’t change your plans easily and I know you often ‘test to destruction’.”

Tony leaned against the counter so he could face her for this discussion, “I guess it is hard to go against all your wishes now. It’s odd; I used to know people didn’t like what I was doing, but it was only intellectual. Now, I can _feel_ all of you being unhappy and I wind up changing what I am doing. It sucks.” It was the first time that Tony had tried to articulate Omega Brain to anyone in the Pack. “I’m not sure if this is an Omega thing or what; but it’s freaking me out a little. Like a little alien is in my head, only it’s me.” He figured that Natasha would understand the feeling of dislocation that Omega Brain caused.

Natasha considered this carefully, as, Tony noted, she did anything that involved feelings. Given her background, she was deliberate about emotions, preferring to think through her reactions carefully before acknowledging them. “I find myself uncomfortable,” she paused to consider and then proceeded, “that you can detect my emotional state. I am not used to having anyone read me, but you have become skilled at it. To know that it is related to your status is…comforting. The alternative would be that I had become sloppy or you had become magically skilled in spy craft. I don’t like either of those alternatives.” She gave him a mischievous grin and offered him a taste of the cake.


	9. The Eyebrow of Doooooooom

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They are going to test the scent guards with Pepper. Tony is confident; Omega Brain is not happy. Clint thinks this is all hilarious.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I finished these last two chapters in a burst and decided to finish this story and start posting the next one this weekend.
> 
> Thank you again for reading, the kudos and the comments! 
> 
> Finally, I have a request. I want to add in some new Avengers so I would like to hear some suggestions about who you would like to see on Fury's list and who you think the Pack should pick.

Tony was pacing around the penthouse. It was a good place to pace, a lot of scope. Around the bedroom, out through the sitting room, even into the kitchenette. In about 20 minutes, he would put on the experimental scent guards and walk into a conference room to meet…Pepper. How could he be so nervous about seeing Pepper? Until induction, seeing her had been a constant in his life. Now, he was like a dog in the vet’s office; not that he had ever had a dog, so where the hell had that comparison come from? “Focus, Tony, focus!” It was a relief when the doors opened and Clint wandered in. Over the last ten weeks, they had become quite close and Tony hailed him with relief, “Legolas! Thank Thor you’re here! I am driving myself crazy. Why did I agree to Steve’s idea that I stay up here until we meet Pepper?”

“Because he gave you one of his looks and we both fear that look. It is our kryptonite, our gamma rays, his super power…”

"Shut up! Do not remind me of the look, you heartless monster. I am trying to feel sorry for myself here.”

Clint grinned and slipped an arm around Tony’s waist, falling into step beside him. Clint had never considered himself particularly touch-feely; his preferred mode of work was sitting alone in a high spot. But Tony was tactile and he had begun responding to that over their time together. Clint had been concerned that Tony wouldn’t actually want him around during the three month seclusion although he had asked Clint to be his guard. But right from day one, Tony had pulled Clint to him, talked to him, involved him in the (sometimes ridiculous) experiments Tony and Bruce thought up. He had eaten whenever Clint brought him food and had never tried to evade the restrictions placed on a new Omega. Clint would never have believed that Tony Stark could be so companionable, but Omega Tony was a totally different animal. “It’s only another 10 minutes then we can head down to the common area. Please do not put on those obnoxious pieces of shit until we are the elevator.”

Tony placed his hands over his arc reactor, “You wound me when you malign my tech. I guess you don’t want those directional explosive arrows I made? I am sure that I can find another superhero using an incredibly archaic weapon to give them to.”

“No! You’re kidding! You figured out how to let me control the direction of the blast? That will be a godsend when the next wave of giant purple-spotted whatchumcallits appear.” They had finally run out of original names for the monsters that seemed determined to attack various human habitations lately. Tony reminded himself that Steve and he really needed to go through the files of possible Avengers and expand the Pack. Tony rather liked that young spider guy who had helped with the giant (why was everything giant – couldn’t they fight medium sized insects for once?) moths in Queens last month. Omega Brain butted in to point out that the guy had smelled of no pack and should have an Omega to look after him as he was too young to be alone. Well, if this test worked, then Tony could meet some of these potential members without revealing that he was Omega which was a huge stumbling block at the moment.

Finally, it was time to head down to meet Pepper. Tony and Clint met the rest of the Pack in the common floor and Tony insisted that each of them scent him as experiments had shown that tended to keep the Pack calm when he put on the scent guards. Just before the elevator hit the unused floor where they were meeting Pepper, Tony asked JARVIS to stop the elevator and he put on the guards. The rest of the Pack also put on the regular guards that everyone wore outside of their Pack territories. The tension in the elevator immediately ticked up. Tony rolled his eyes, “Guys! Quit it! We are going to talk to Pepper – who I talk to almost every day on phone or video. She is not going to suddenly, I don’t know, developed super villainy and carry me off to her tower. If only because this actually is her tower, well, at least 12% of it is her tower.”

“If she was a super villain, we could totally handle her.” Clint immediately responded.

Bruce blinked and then said, “I don’t want to fight with Pepper. She would organize us right out of existence. I don’t think even the Hulk would stand a chance. She would just do that eyebrow lift and..”

“Yes, that is her superpower! Cap has the Look and Pepper has the Lifted Eyebrow of Doooooooooom.” Tony drew out the last word, trying to sound like that soccer announcer when someone scored a goal. They were being silly but Tony felt the relaxation of the tension in the group and silently thanked Bruce and Clint for joking along.

The elevator doors opened onto the floor two below the Pack quarters; this was still one floor above SI offices. The floor had been shut for over 3 months; even cleaning crews hadn’t been up, although robots had been vacuuming. There was that distinctive feeling of emptiness that one always has in human habitation that had been abandoned. There was still furniture in most of the offices which just added to the eerie feeling. “This is just freaky. JARVIS, make a note to turn this into something. Maybe another floor wide range or simulation room.” Tony gave an exaggerated shudder.

He noted with amusement that the Pack was circling him as they entered the conference room. He had to lean around Steve to wave at Pepper who was standing near the head of the table. “Hey Pep!” he mentally rolled his eyes as Natasha made a hastily aborted movement to block him from leaning out from behind Steve’s broad back. Shooting her a grin, he bounced around Steve and wandered over to Pepper. Omega Brain was basically yelling its version of “Danger, Will Robinson!” the entire time he was walking down the room. Tony mentally rolled his eyes and told Omega Brain to shut it. Omega Brain made it clear that it was not going to take any blame for the bad Alpha grabbing him and taking him away from the Pack. Tony reminded himself again that Omega Brain was neither logical nor practical. He almost went to hug Pepper as he usually did but Omega Brain completely baulked and he came to a halt about 5 feet away. “Pepper! Did you see the specs I sent for the new OS?” Because what the hell, this was supposed to be a business meeting.

Pepper looked at Tony for a long moment and then swung around to Steve, “What have you done?” The tone was menacing and, at the same time, coolly professional. Tony admitted to himself that it was kind of hot – Omega Brain sputtered with outrage. He inserted himself between his CEO and his Alpha. Pepper looked like she was ready to take off her stilettos and kill Steve with them, although Tony wasn’t sure why. Cap, on the other hand, was watching Pepper with an intensity he generally reserved for radioactive sea slugs who were trying to eat Brooklyn (don’t ask). Omega Brain stopped having conniptions (Tony had never actually heard a brain having conniptions before – it was fascinating) and sent a very clear signal that Tony needed to intervene NOW. Tony immediately started talking, which was always a winning strategy for him, “Pepper, my adorable boss, there is nothing bad going on. Why are you giving the look of death to Cap? Cap, this is the most wondrous Pepper who, I may remind you, owns 12% of the tower you live in. So, do not, I repeat, do not throw any shields at her!” This actually broke through the staring contest and Steve looked, startled at Tony.

“Tony, I am not going to throw my shield at Pepper. I don’t even have my shield.”

“Tony, I really need the Captain to answer my question.’ Pepper broke in, looking at Tony repressively, which never worked so he didn’t know why she kept trying it. “I had understood that you were to become the Omega of the Avengers Pack and I want to know why that did not happen.” Her voice became progressively colder as she finished the sentence. Tony and Omega Brain agreed that her voice could refreeze the Capsicle.

“Pepper, I am the Omega.” Tony’s cry overlapped with Steve’s “He is the Omega.”

“Please, I have been in an Omega pack. I know what an Omega smells like and there is nothing on Tony.” She was interrupted by Tony’s crow of triumph and his victory dance which took him all around the conference room. He caught sight of Natasha and Bruce who were laughing in the doorway. Clint whooped and swung Tony around in an impromptu hand dance into the hall. He danced Tony all the way back to the elevator. As the doors closed, the Pack and Pepper were treated to the sight of Tony ripping off the scent guards and throwing them in the air as Clint twirled him.


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Finally the day has arrived; they are going to meet with Fury. Steve is stoic; Tony and Clint are snarky; Natasha is professional; and, Bruce is asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So the second story is done. The next one is probably going to labels hurt/comfort and angst. But don't worry, Omega Brain is still around.
> 
> Thanks again for reading and commenting. Don't forget to suggest potential Avengers for Fury's list!

Tony smacked a robot out of the air having already fried its circuitry. He spun around, scanning the HUD for any sign of hostiles, but the HUD was clear. He flicked on the com and called out to the Pack, “My area is clear. Anyone else need a little help?” These robots had been something of a disappointment actually; they were not technically very advanced and they were relatively easy to defeat. The only thing that Tony could say for them was that there had been a lot of them.

Cap’s voice came over the com. “All clear here. Assuming that no one has any robots left, I call it and we can head to debrief at the tower.” Only the Pack knew how significant that statement was. Tony felt a jolt as he realized that today was the day that they would try and fool Fury into believing that there was no Omega in the Avengers Pack. They had been prepping for this for over a week, both mentally and physically. Tony had followed through with his idea for the empty floor, starting construction to turn it into a massive simulation environment, except for the conference room. He figured that the Pack needed at least one conference room far enough from Pack quarters that no one could smell the Omega scent. He had also added in a landing pad outside the conference room for himself and Thor. The landing pad had actually been Bruce’s idea. The scientist had pointed out that if Tony was in the armor, it wouldn’t seem as odd that they couldn’t smell him, since they never could in the armor. This insight worked wonders for most of the Pack’s anxiety. And since Tony only went to the floor in armor, there was no lingering Omega scent.

Tony swept down to where he had last seen the Hulk. Since Cap had called it, he assumed that Bruce had made an appearance. That assumption was proved correct and Tony handed the sleepy Bruce a jumpsuit he had engineered to roll up small enough to keep in the armor. “Want a ride Brucie-Bear? We are meeting with Fury in the tower.” Hulk never kept a com and he wanted to warn him. Bruce just stared at him sleepily and shuffled against him for the trip to the tower. Tony hoped that the three hours of robot smashing was sufficient to keep the Hulk from noticing the proximity of Fury to the Omega. Bruce liked Pepper and the Hulk had, consequently, placed her in the “Betty” category (although not as special as actual Betty). So, the Hulk was generally calm about Pepper being with Tony, but he associated Fury with SHIELD and being shot at. So, an awake, alert Hulk was not desirable.

The timing was tight for the meeting with Fury. In less than a week, the launch of the new StarkPhone would take place in the lobby of the tower with the whole Pack in attendance. Cap was determined to have the first meeting with Fury before the launch. He pointed out that he had been stalling Fury for almost three months now and he’d be dammed if he would have to explain to Fury why the Avengers could get together for a Stark Industries event, but not for a debrief. Steve had done an impressive and terrifying impression of Fury while explaining his position. The Pack had all glanced at one another and decided to fall in behind their Alpha before he lost it.

Tony flew to the tower with Bruce listening to Omega Brain humming happily in his head. He reflected that it was lucky that Omega Brain only reacted in the moment, because the moment he saw Fury, it was going to _freak_. There were times that Omega Brain took control and there were times when Tony fought it down. This was definitely one of the fight it down times – Tony needed to be as public Tony Stark as possible. Natasha had been clear; the only lie in the room would be that Tony was not an Omega. “JARVIS, final check on the scent guards?” It only took an instant for the AI to reply in the affirmative. The scent guards were on and working.

Tony made sure to land with a flourish on the platform. He couldn’t do a full ‘Ironman’ as he was holding Bruce, so Fury would not have the wonder of that to behold. Bruce let go once they were on the platform and stumbled through the glass door into the room, to the conference table, to a chair, and went instantly to sleep. Omega Brain clucked and pointed out that someone (ahem) should make sure that Bruce at least had an energy bar before he conked out completely. Otherwise he would wake up with a nasty headache. Tony swept into the room as dramatically as he could while also picking up a bottle of water from the side bar and pulling out and unwrapping an energy bar from his suit. “Brucie, Brucie…you need to wake up and munch on something so you don’t have a headache later and be all cranky.” Bruce blindly put his hand out and took the bar and shoved it whole into his mouth. That was impressive and derailed Tony’s brain into some very inappropriate thoughts. He blinked and handed Bruce the water bottle, grateful that his face plate was still down.

Fury was not amused by either the site of the meeting or the piecemeal entrance of the Avengers. He kept up a forbidding exterior while privately acknowledging that when some of the team could fly, they were likely to make it back faster as a matter of course. Fury could be patient while waiting for the main show. He was unsure (and didn’t that sting?) about the Avengers and the purpose of the meeting here today. Rogers and Romanov had done a superb job of covering for whatever was going on with the Avengers Pack. Fury believed that they had inducted Barton as the Pack Omega, but over the last few months, he had not gotten any confirmation of that. The Pack was acting as if they had a new Omega, at least according to everything Fury knew about Omegas. He himself had no personal experience with them; his military duty had not been in any war packs with Omegas. Certainly, there were no Omegas at SHIELD. Fury did not appreciate divided loyalties.

Rogers had been circumspect about why he was taking the entire Pack out of action for two weeks. When Fury had pressed, Rogers had fed him a bullshit line about ‘teambuilding’; Fury had decided that he was never sending Rogers on covert missions; man was a terrible liar. Then, after the two weeks of radio silence, the Avengers were back, but both Barton and Stark had disappeared from briefings and SHIELD. He had made noises about Barton coming back to work, taking some stress tests, talking to shrinks, but Rogers had refused on all counts. Barton had remained locked up in that tower with Stark. The only time the whole Pack was out of the tower was when they were fighting whatever threat appeared.

They must have chosen an Omega; that was the only fact that explained all of their behavior. He had pushed on both Rogers and Romanov for answers. But Rogers had refused to answer and Romanov had shrugged and pointed to Rogers. He couldn’t read the Captain in this situation and even Fury wasn’t good enough to read the Black Widow. Fury had noted that Barton kept himself far from any agents during action and left as soon as the battle was over. Either Stark picked him up or Barton made a beeline for the quinjet and the tower. Fury had tried to get Coulson to look over the tapes from some of the battles since he was more familiar with Barton than anyone else. But Coulson was still pissed over being ‘killed’ and hidden away on the Bus without any options.

Fury had briefly considered the possibility that _Stark_ had become the Omega. After all, Stark had pretty much vanished as well; no nights out, no carousing. But he dismissed that idea quickly; Stark was far too self-involved and unstable to be Omega. Moreover, if Stark had any inclination to become Omega, he would have joined the SI pack of which his ex-girlfriend, Potts, was the Alpha. Fury knew that Stark’s insistence on being part of the Avengers Pack had been a contributing factor to their breakup. Besides, he and Rogers argued as relentlessly out of the field as they meshed in battle; the idea of them working on the level of Omega and Alpha (at least what Fury knew of that relationship) was laughable. And some discreet spying had given him the information that Stark was deeply involved in trying to launch a new StarkPhone. According to reliable sources, he had been spending most of his time working with SI staff to get ready for launch, including almost daily meetings the last two weeks with Potts. No, Fury was sure that if an Omega had been inducted, it was Barton.

This invitation had been unexpected and he was hoping that it would confirm Barton’s situation once and for all. The Avengers has been ducking out of meetings for months now and. Rogers had given him a whole bunch of reasons for wanting to have the meeting in the tower, but Fury read just one intention behind it. It may be that Barton refused to come to SHIELD, but Fury was sure that was a feint to obscure the fact that Barton was the new Omega. Once he had confirmation, Fury could start moving on plans to expand the Avengers bench. It was true that Barton hadn’t been near him since the whole Loki incident, but Fury was sure that he remained loyal to SHIELD. Using that loyalty, Fury could build the Avengers into a force to deal with the major problems that he saw coming as clear as day. It would also reduce the Avengers’ dependence on their less stable members, Stark and Banner, as well as Thor who had conflicting loyalties to say the least.

He was eyeing Stark who still hovered near Banner when the rest of the Avengers came into the room and one thing became perfectly clear. If there was an Omega in the Avengers Pack, it wasn’t Barton. His scent shields were clear and, Fury may not work with Omegas, but he knew what they smelled like and there was not a hint. Fury was a master at appraising situations without a hint of his feelings showing; if Barton wasn’t the Omega, then that left Stark. At that moment, Stark slid back his face plate, the edges of his usual ostentatious scent guards showing through the neck holes. Fury quickly revised his assumptions. There was no Omega; perhaps induction had gone wrong? He had heard that could happen; if so, Rogers had healed any breach in the Pack from it. “Nice of everyone to join us this morning. You know, I have an entire agency to run and there are perfectly adequate conference rooms at SHIELD.” He needed to take control of this meeting as quickly as possible.

They immediately began the briefing. Fury watched everyone, well he always did that. He couldn’t detect any shifts in Pack relationships that couldn’t be attributed to the fact that they had been living together for months. Stark and Barton had developed a relationship that seemed one step above drunken frat boys. Romanov was less antagonistic around everyone and Banner was asleep. Rogers was obviously playing the grownup to the group as he assisted Fury in keeping the meeting on track and somewhat productive. The Pack was more comfortable with each other; if there had been a failed induction, they had recovered well.

Now, a failed induction opened some interesting avenues for Fury. As he snapped at Stark for mouthing off and listened to the Black Widow’s astute observations, he considered how to turn the situation to his own advantage. He mentally revised his list of potential Avengers to include several omega candidates. If the position was open, he wanted to control who was in it. He may never have been part of an omega pack, but he had dealt with them. Fury wanted to be the power behind the Omega of the Avengers Pack; he wanted more control over these individuals and the Omega was the key to that. Maybe Rogers would like Sharon Carter? He hadn’t introduced them yet; wanted to keep her in his back pocket. But if she was a potential Omega, that would put him in an excellent position.

Tony let his snark flag fly. It was obvious that Fury had not detected an Omega in the room. He explained this reassuringly to Omega Brain who replied that it would feel better if Tony would just fire his repulsors at the head of the table. Tony pointed out that he might hit Steve. Omega Brain seemed to feel that was acceptable collateral damage since Steve had super healing. Tony decided to stop listening to murderous Omega Brain and shoot the shit with Clint. He paid attention to the briefing, but that only required a small portion of his mind. His cue came when the discussion shifted to paperwork. He stood up, dragging Bruce with him, “This is my time to exit with Sleeping Green here. I got a multi-billion dollar company to give me paperwork; I don’t need any more from SHIELD.” As he spoke, he maneuvered himself and Bruce to the exit for the outside platform, stepped out and took off. He heard some squawking from the direction of Fury but paid it no mind.

He dropped Bruce off on the roof before heading through the automated landing pad that stripped his armor as he walked in. He pulled off the scent guards and dropped them into a box he had developed to hold them (do not want those lying round where anyone could get at them). Once that was done, he shook Bruce into a semi-conscious state, “No-no, Big Guy. We do not sleep on the roof – too cold. Let’s get you tucked up in the Pack Room and you can sleep until meal time.” He half-dragged the scientist to the Pack Room and tucked him into what Tony and Clint insisted was the “Bruce Nest” in one part of the room.  He then wandered down to the common area chatting about dinner to JARVIS, “Don’t know what I have yen for tonight, J. The gang will be hungry and clingy is my guess. So not pizza,” Tony had developed a strong dislike of being fed pizza – the Avengers liked a lot of toppings and it was always messy. He also found it way too heavy after combat. “How about Vietnamese? Yeah, order the regular for everyone and pho for me.” Pho was good; they could all take turns feeding him and the liquid was easy to swallow.

As he stood waiting at the elevator for the rest of the Pack, he rubbed at his neck. This was the longest he had ever worn the scent guards and it turned out that they irritated his sensitive glands. Omega Brain was harrumphing in his head after a fairly amicable pause of thinking about feeding everyone.  He had worn the guards for about three and half hours today, through the fight and the briefing. He made a note to reconsider the design and test the wrist guards before the launch. The launch would probably require him to wear both neck and wrist guards for at least four hours, depending on how long the press meetings were. He had told Pepper to hold him for only the most influential media outlets, but he was aware that he had made himself a scarce commodity over the last few months and there was going to be a lot of demand.

Suddenly, standing in front of the elevator, it fully sunk in that he had done it! He had created a scent guard so good that someone as paranoid as Fury could stand in a room with an Omega and never know it! He grinned wide and that was the sight that met the other members of the Pack when they exited the elevators. “I did it! One-eye didn’t even guess!”

Steve smiled tolerantly at the excited Omega. He couldn’t deny Tony his moment of triumph, so he didn’t mention all the implications of the successful deception, but he could see them coming. Steve just knew that tomorrow morning would bring a message from Fury with a list of potential Avengers and at least one of them would be an omega candidate. He was not looking forward to Tony’s reaction to that. And then there was the launch. There were currently over a thousand invitations out for the event. When Steve had agreed to the launch, he hadn’t quite realized the extent. The event would be streamed live and there was an entire press gauntlet that Tony would run. Steve had been horrified to realize that Tony would be out in public for over 4 hours although he would never leave the tower lobby. Apparently, Steve was the only one who hadn’t known that. But Tony had been adamant; the launch had to be successful to keep SI pivoting away from weapons and Steve knew how important that was to Tony.  So he smiled, a little strained, at the excited Omega and congratulated him on his achievement.

Tony won the bet. Fury didn’t find out at six months; he didn’t find out until he broke into the Pack quarters and was confronted by a feral Omega. But that is another story.


End file.
